Steps, Leaps and Bounds
by Forlay
Summary: Rachel and Cassie explore their new feelings for eachother. *Slash* (Not part of my R/C series)


_Author's Notes:Yes, this story is slash. And it heavily hints at some...adult situations, I guess we could say. If you don't like it, deal with it and click the back button, that's what it was created for._

_It's the 27th/28th of December as I'm writing this and I *still* haven't gotten #49. And since it's a Tobias book, I'm allowed to hope against hope it has *some* R/T content in it, right? Or at least something hinting at the fact that Rachel doesn't like him much anymore. Heh heh. Yes, I know, I'm evil. Anyway, so this story is only accurate up to book 48 and takes place in the future when the Animorphs are 18-ish (again, I know the war is going to end in the coming months, so it's AU in many ways). Soooo...insert the standard disclaimer and on with the story!!!_   
  


#  Steps, Leaps and Bounds

##  By: Forlay

Rachel paced around her room nervously, although she wasn't sure why. Perhaps her feelings weren't so much from nervousness as confusion. With all the stress from fighting she'd definitely become confused. Hell, since the damn war started she'd lived in an almost perpetual state of fear, confusion and on the brink of insanity.   
_Yeah, I'll just chalk all this up to insanity and have myself committed, then I don't need to worry about a thing,_ she told herself. But she didn't believe a word of it. Her feelings could stem from confusion, but she knew that, for better or for worse, she was still in her right mind.   
Finally, desperate to try and figure out some semblance of what was going on, she sat at her desk and pulled out a sheet of paper from one of the drawers. She grabbed a pen from another and began making two lists.

Arguments Against:   
I love Tobias   
Tobias loves me   
Cassie's my best friend   
It's just not _right_ to love your best girl friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arguments For:   
Cassie's my best friend   
Cassie understands me better than anyone

Rachel looked over her list and shook her head. Writing out her thoughts hadn't helped her at all. Her points couldn't be taken just at face value. The first two on the 'Arguments Against' list could be counted as the same thing. As for the fourth, there were plenty of arguments both for and against that alone. Personally, she'd been raised to agree with it, but in light of what was happening now, she wasn't so sure she'd been taught correctly.   
"Wouldn't be the first time," she said bitterly as she wadded up the paper and tossed it in her trash can.   
She stood up and walked to her window. She opened it and shuddered as a blast of cool winter evening air rushed into her heated bedroom. It was too late for Tobias to come by, especially in the winter, so she wouldn't have to worry about missing him that night. _And would you really _mind_ missing a visit from him?_ she asked.   
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Notions like that one wouldn't help her state of confusion any.   
Before she could change her mind, Rachel slipped out of the sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing. Before she could register how much colder it was when only wearing a leotard, she focused on her owl morph and began the change.

Cassie was surprised to hear the sharp rapping at her window. And even more surprised to see the owl that had produced the sound.   
Cassie, it's me. Let me in. >   
Cassie hurried to the window and let her friend in and waited as Rachel quickly demorphed.   
"What's wrong?" Cassie asked as soon as she saw her friend's conflicted face.   
"Shorter list: what _isn't_ wrong?" Rachel corrected.   
Cassie guided Rachel to the bed and sat her down. After taking a seat next to her, Cassie said, "So, what is it?"   
Rachel sighed and leaned over to put her head in her hands. "Cassie, I have problems."   
Cassie couldn't help it, she let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Rachel, hon, who _doesn't_?" Rachel looked up at her and Cassie immediately saw that Rachel was dead serious. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed, you just kinda caught me off guard."   
Rachel sat back up. "I know. It's not the best pick...conversation starter I've ever come up with, but I'm running on zero sleep, so forgive me?" _What the _hell_ did I just almost say?!_   
_ What the hell did she almost say?!_ Cassie asked herself when she heard Rachel's stumble. She must have been hearing things, because there was no way Rachel could have almost said 'pick up line' when referring to Cassie. Was there?   
"Um, sure," Cassie managed to say.   
"Anyways..." Rachel trailed off, unsure of what to say next.   
"Need me to try and figure out how to word it for you?" Cassie suggested quietly.   
"You can try."   
"Okay...is it about you and Tobias?"   
Rachel paused for a moment. "Kinda."   
"Has he done something incredibly stupid?"   
Rachel laughed. "If only it were so simple."   
"Have _you_ done something incredibly stupid?"   
"Are you suggesting I'm capable of doing something incredibly stupid?" Rachel asked, feigning insult.   
Cassie laughed. It felt good to laugh with Rachel. "All right, all right, I'm sorry I asked."   
"We aren't going to get anywhere this way, I'll just come right out and tell you: I'm not entirely sure I love only Tobias anymore."   
Cassie nodded solemnly. "I'd kinda begun to guess that."   
Rachel's eyes widened in surprise. Could Cassie have already guess _why_ she didn't love Tobias? "How'd you do that?" she had to struggle to keep her voice in a conversational tone, it was dangerously close to rising several octaves higher in fear.   
Cassie shrugged. "Little clues here and there. You don't seem to be spending much time outside of missions with him, you don't share the private glances you used to share just before we dived into a battle, you're not as quick to defend him anymore...you know, little things." _Why was Rachel acting so panicky?_   
Rachel nodded, relieved Cassie hadn't guessed her secret, but she was set on edge again when Cassie asked, "May I ask who you think it is you're in love with if you don't love only Tobias?"   
"Uh...that one's a bit harder to answer."   
"Well, I'm not playing 20 questions with you again trying to figure _that_ one out. It'd take forever." Cassie looked at Rachel closely. "You want to just tell me?"   
'Just' tell her? If only she knew how much she was asking! This wasn't like she was confessing to liking the cute boy who sat next to her in homeroom. That'd be something simple, mundane even. Hell, it'd be _normal_. No, admitting you might possibly have romantic feelings for your best friend - who happened to be female - was anything but normal.   
"You afraid I might judge you or something?" Cassie asked, putting a hand on Rachel's shoulder. She felt Rachel shudder slightly under her hand and removed it, growing ever more concerned by the minute.   
Rachel saw Cassie's concern as she lifted her hand from her shoulder and felt a pang of...something. She wasn't sure how to describe it. Guilt for pushing Cassie away with an involuntary reaction, which was meant as pleasure but had been interpreted as revulsion? Yeah, that sounded about right.   
"I don't think you'd ever...judge me," Rachel finally said. "I just don't know quite how to word it." _Aren't I eloquent tonight?_   
"Just say whatever comes to mind," Cassie said, while resisting the urge to put her hand back on Rachel's shoulder.   
"Okay, here goes..." Rachel closed her eyes before finally saying what she'd wanted to say for...well, she didn't remember how long anymore. "I like you, Cassie." She looked up at her best friend, who looked stunned. "Hey, you wanted to know."   
Cassie nodded slowly as she tried to interpret both what Rachel had just said and the thoughts spinning randomly through her head. Rachel liked her. Rachel _liked_ her. _Like_ liked. But how was that possible? When had the friendship gone from like to...well, _like_?   
_And when did you first think that you might reciprocate the feelings,_ a hidden part of her subconscious asked. And no matter how much she'd tried to suppress that voice in the past few weeks, she couldn't deny it now.   
"Well, what happens now?" Rachel asked after a minute when she still hadn't gotten an answer from Cassie. "How are you going to deal with me now? Toss me out? Refuse to ever speak to me again? Morph wolf and rip my throat out?"   
Cassie winced at every suggestion and shook her head when Rachel had finished. "No. This." She took Rachel's face in her hands and kissed her deeply.   
_Well, this didn't turn out as expected,_ Rachel thought as she kissed Cassie back. She put her arms around Cassie's neck, never wanting to let Cassie go. She parted her mouth and gently forced her tongue inside Cassie's mouth. Cassie returned the gesture, much to Rachel's delight.   
Cassie was the first to pull away, gasping for breath when she did so, but she kept her arms locked firmly around Rachel's neck, as Rachel still had her arms around Cassie's. Cassie grinned, "That certainly wasn't what I expected to happen when you came over."   
Rachel smiled back, "Me neither."   
"So what do we do now?"   
"Mmm, I've got a few ideas."

When Rachel woke up, Cassie's clock read 5 AM, and she could already hear noise coming from Cassie's kitchen, one of her parents must have already been awake and fixing breakfast. Rachel then carefully extracted herself from Cassie's embrace and climbed out of the bed. As she was pulling her leotard back on, Cassie woke up and propped herself up with her elbow.   
"Some night, huh?"   
Rachel grinned. "That's a nice way of putting it." She leaned down and kissed Cassie's forehead. "What do we do now? How do we deal with the guys?"   
Cassie shrugged, "I don't know. Just take it one step at a time, I guess. Don't go dropping everything right away just...let it happen naturally."   
Rachel stretched out her cramped muscles. "Naturally. Okay, I can do that." She kissed Cassie again, this time passionately on the lips, but she broke it off, teasingly, before Cassie could drag her back into the bed. "Not now," Rachel told her, "One of your parents is already awake."   
"You're a tease, you know that?" Cassie asked playfully. Then her eyes widened. "My parents! Oh my God, do you think they heard us?"   
Rachel shrugged, "If they did, they didn't bother us."   
Cassie was visibly shaking as she got out of bed, clutching the blanket to her as she searched for clothes for the day. "Oh my God, if they heard...if they know...I'm so dead."   
"Take it easy, Cassie. Remember, one step at a time."   
"Is that the method you'd say we chose last night?"   
Rachel grinned again. "No, I'd say that was more of the leaps and bounds method, but that certainly doesn't work for every situation, does it?"   
Cassie sighed. "No, it doesn't."   
Rachel blew Cassie a final farewell kiss before she started to morph, eagle this time, and flew out the window towards home.   
Cassie looked out the window, watching her friend as she disappeared from sight over the trees. "One step at a time."

_Additional author's notes: Okay, yes, I know, completely out of character for me, but this was one of those story ideas that latches on in your brain and won't let you go to sleep before you write it. So, here's about the closest you're going to get to smut from me, hope you enjoyed it, and remember, flaming just wastes your time as much as mine, so save your fingers the extra work and just click the back button if, after all the warnings, you actually got this far into the story._


End file.
